


Eyes Without Speaking Confess

by Mireille



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-10-22
Updated: 2006-10-22
Packaged: 2019-03-12 22:58:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13557390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mireille/pseuds/Mireille
Summary: Six people who found out Giles and Xander were in love, including themselves.Slightly AU due to ficathon requirements.





	Eyes Without Speaking Confess

**Author's Note:**

> No underage warning because there's no sex in this story, but Xander is under 18 at the beginning of it. 
> 
> The title is from a quotation from Saint Jerome: _"The face is the mirror of the mind, and eyes without speaking confess the secrets of the heart."_

Jenny's never been afraid to go after what she wants, and she's had all summer to decide that this--that Rupert--is what she wants right now. There's a warning voice in the back of her mind that says this may all end in tears, but she ignores it, marches into the library with a firm resolution to speak her mind. 

Rupert looks up quickly when she walks in--too quickly, and the color in his cheeks makes her look in the direction his head had been turned, across the room to where Xander Harris is sitting, scowling at his textbooks and apparently unaware of either of them. 

Jenny quickly manufactures a request for Rupert to add _Macworld_ the next time he chooses new periodicals, and leaves just as quickly. 

She watches carefully for the next several weeks, even though she mocks herself for it. She knows the boy throws himself in harm's way on a regular basis; there's nothing that Rupert can do to him that's worse than what the vampires would. But she finds that she's a teacher first, no matter what her uncle may think, and so she watches until she's certain that Xander is, in fact, unaware of how Rupert watches him, and that Rupert seems determined to keep it that way. 

She stays away from the library after that. She's never been afraid to go after what she wants, but she's not foolish enough that she can't see when it already belongs to someone else.

***

Giles drifts in and out of something that isn't quite sleep, never surfacing long enough for him to sort out where he is or why he doesn't seem to be in pain. If anyone's tried to explain, he doesn't remember, and at the moment, doesn't care.

Angelus isn't here; he hangs onto that knowledge even as he shies away from everything else that goes along with it. 

And Xander _is_ here, every time he opens his eyes. Giles has always slipped back down into the darkness before either of them could speak, but, even when his eyes are closed, he doesn't need words to know that Xander's here. 

The next time he wakes up, watery early-morning sunlight is coming through the windows, and Xander is drinking from a paper cup; Giles remembers voices, and wonders if the nurses have been looking after Xander while Xander kept watch over their patient. 

He looks up at Xander, and there are so many questions he needs the answers to, _now_ ; so many things more important than the ache deep in his broken bones or the bruises on his flesh. 

Xander must realize then that Giles is awake, because he smiles, just faintly, and says, "Morning," his voice sounding more weary than anyone his age should ever have to be. 

And for a moment all the vitally important questions die on Giles' tongue, because when he meets Xander's eyes, all he sees is the answer to the one question he'd never meant to ask.

***

"He's going to be okay, right?" Xander asks, for the fourth or fifth time, and Willow nods.

"The doctor said he can go home in the morning," she says, yet again.

Xander has been fidgeting in the chair next to her, but he gets up now, pacing in front of the row of chairs. "I don't get why they won't let us go back there."

Willow shakes her head. "He's not awake, and they said since we're not family, we have to wait until--"

"I'm not going to be there," Xander interrupts. "He's going to wake up and I'm not going to be there and _how is that right?_ " 

"Why are you so--" She stops herself, because all of a sudden she doesn't need to ask. It's right there in front of her. 

It always has been, but she can't pretend not to see it anymore. "You and--Giles?" 

"It's not--I know what you're thinking, Will, and it's not like that, okay?" 

And maybe she is thinking that, a little--that Xander is too young or Giles is too old or that it just isn't _fair_ \--but all that can wait until later. Right now, she gets up, putting her arms around him and whispering, "It's okay, Xander. He's going to be okay."

"What about us?" he asks, not looking up. 

She's not really sure what she thinks about all this, but she _is_ sure Xander's her best friend, her _first_ friend, so she nods. "Us, too."

***

"I know what you're thinking," Giles begins, once he and Xander are both completely dressed and Buffy can look somewhere other than the floor or the ceiling. Not that she hasn't seen Xander in a lot less than a pair of pajama pants--hello, Speedo?--but that was a lot less... _naked_ , somehow.

Definitely a lot less _Hi! I'm having sex with your Watcher!_ and oh, God, that's something she never wants to picture again. 

"Well, now I know why Xander ran away so fast when I could read his mind," she says, but neither of them smiles. She realizes then that they're both waiting for her to completely wig at them, and... okay, there is a definite, huge "wig" component to this day. She totally admits that, and it's not like she's thrilled. Giles is not actually supposed to be having sex with _anybody_ , and since when is Xander gay?

But there's a part of her that's not wigged, or annoyed that they've been keeping secrets, or even insanely jealous that _all_ her friends are happy when she's not. Especially when she looks down and sees their hands--fingers laced together, and Xander's thumb rubbing circles on the back of Giles' hand, and for a second she forgets about the overwhelming _weird_ and is just kind of... happy for them. 

"If you hurt him," she says suddenly, "you're going to have to deal with me," and she can't help but grin a little when both of them look worried.

***

First of all? She totally doesn't need a babysitter. And she doesn't need Buffy lecturing her about not barfing on the books at the Magic Box, either. It isn't like she'd thrown up; she just said she _felt_ like she's going to throw up, and that's a lot more "science test" than "stomach flu."

Dawn gets the whole "not going home and worrying Mom while she's sick" thing, but if Buffy had to go to class she could have let Dawn wander around the campus for an hour, couldn't she? 

And she _totally_ doesn't need to open the door of the Magic Box and realize that she's just fallen into Bizarro World. Giles and Xander are sitting at the table eating lunch, which is normal, and Xander leans over to steal one of Giles' potato chips, which is normal, too. What _isn’t_ normal is Giles leaning in to kiss Xander, so quickly that Dawn isn't a hundred percent sure that's what she's just seen. 

Somebody squeaks, and when Giles and Xander turn around to stare at her, Dawn realizes that it's probably her. 

"It says 'closed for lunch,'" she says, and she _isn't_ jealous, not really, because she's always kind of figured Xander is never going to come and sweep her off her feet. "Not 'closed while people are disturbing and weird.'"

"Dawn, we were, er..." Giles begins, but Xander just gets up, shaking his head and grinning at her. 

"Tried that," he says. "It wouldn't fit on the sign."

***

After that one feeble attempt at a joke, Giles hasn't said anything else about his eye, and Xander hasn't asked. Thinking about what Giles might say gives him a cold feeling somewhere in the pit of his stomach, and life's too short to do things that are almost guaranteed to make him miserable.

Only it turns out life isn't as short as he's been expecting, and they're crashed at an EconoLodge outside Phoenix. And suddenly, there's nothing to do _but_ talk about it. 

Xander can't find the words; doesn't want to know if this changes things. Half of him trusts Giles enough to know it won't, but the other half has seen his face without the patch and can't quite blame Giles if he doesn't want to wake up next to that. _Xander_ doesn't want to wake up with that, but he doesn't have a choice. Giles does. 

He opens his mouth to tell Giles to get it over with. He doesn't get past "Gi--" because Giles' arms are around him, so tight Xander probably couldn't breathe if he tried. For a second, though, he's not trying, because he's too completely stunned. 

And Giles--Giles is holding him, his breath hot against Xander's ear as he whispers something that sounds, to Xander's confused mind, like, "Never worry me like that again."

He pulls back a little, looking up at Giles, and for a few seconds, at least, he _knows_ that the world might end, but Giles isn't going anywhere.

**Author's Note:**

> [me on tumblr](https://mireille719.tumblr.com)


End file.
